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Report: Team Glazer Sought Chucky, Cowher

“Who the hell gave you guys my cell? Jiminy Christmas! You think I’m going to pay $16 million for a guy that can’t throw the football? I want no part of this.”

Per CBS Sports, Team Glazer had bigger names than Lovie Smith in mind to replace Greg Schiano.

A stunning (but not really so stunning) report by Jason La Canfora this morning claims the Bucs owners were chasing the biggest big names last year.

Tampa Bay ownership pursued a reunion with former Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden, according to league sources, making a run at him prior to their eventual hiring of former Bears coach Lovie Smith. Furthermore, according to league sources, the Bucs sent word to former Steelers coach Bill Cowher about their interest in him back in November, but were quickly informed Cowher was more than happy working as an analyst for CBS.

The Chucky chasing is fascinating. What a whirlwind of wild that would have been to have Chucky back as head coach. Perhaps Chucky would have confused Mike Glennon with Son of Bob Griese, or traded the farm to get the Rams’ No. 2 pick to get Johnny Football?

Joe’s not sure Chucky would have been a better hire than Lovie Smith, only more entertaining.

In Joe’s mind, Chucky’s latest pass on being an NFL head coach only reinforces that he really wanted out of coaching when Team Glazer fired him five years ago. For a guy to retire at 45 years old from the profession he claimed to be in love with and obsessed with is at best odd.

Damn, Joe wonders whether Team Glazer actually sat down with Chucky? What a conversation that might have been.

Casting a wide net is always prudent….not sure their interest was that strong…..maybe a contingency if Lovie didn’t agree to come.
Chucky & Cowher could have both easily coached again if they wanted to.
Happy with the decision….I don’t care if Lovie was their 20th choice…it was a good one!!!

Thank God for small favors. I’ll take and revel in Lovie over Gruden or Cowher. Why would these two have any interest going back to coach when they have high profile cake jobs where they can become further enamored with their selves in front of the camera.

I don’t think the story here is that the Glazers were considering Gruden or Cowher. The story is that the Glazers had made their mind up back at 0-8 that they were going to fire Schiano! All the posts that we saw about winning the last few games or turning things around was pure bunk.

I’m happy to have my opinion reinforced that the Glazers are committed to winning. They just don’t shout from the roof tops like Jerry Jones!

How long will it take for people to realize La Canfora is the biggest idiot with no credible sources? This is a story with no truth. Schefter is the hot shot with all the news that is actually true and credible. La canfora is trying to one up.

This is the same guy who said Cliff Avril was en route to Tampa and never even happened. Said mike Sherman was a done deal in Tampa when no one knew chip Kelly was even interviewed.

With all these reported reunion meetings and actual hirings going on, it’s hard to imagine that Team Glazer isn’t relying on Saint Dungy in some capacity in the background of all of this. It would not shock me, and I believe it would be revitalizing for the organization, to see him come back in some type of executive or official advisory role.

let’s take the nostalgia train ride one step further…often lost in selective memory history is the fact that the solid foundation of young Bucs talent that later became our SB team was drafted by fan non-favorite but good talent evaluator Sam Wyche (who inherited a Bucs team that was a bit of a mess). Dungy took the foundation Wyche left him and turned it around yet couldn’t get the job done (in Dungy’s case going up to Philly and winning in the postseason). Enter Jon Gruden who came in got the job done. SO in this story Wyche = Schiano, Dungy = Smith, and (Jon) Gruden = ? (perhaps Jay Gruden). Now that would be nostalgia!

Honestly….I feel a little better now from a coaching perspective, as I think Cowher or Gruden might have been the better choice, but didn’t want the job. You eliminate the SB winning coaches, other than Shanahan, and Lovie is probably the best alternative. But it does make me wonder why we went this way rather than getting the best GM and trusting him to get a good HC. We certainly are putting all our “eggs” in one basket with Lovie making the personnel decisions…and am relatively sure we won’t get an talented experienced GM as they wouldn’t take the job without that power. And it does say something about the Glazers “reputation” is around the league in the land of GM’s and HC’s.

I could see them contacting Cowher, but not Gruden. Owners never try to hire coaches they fired.

I suspect Jason made up this story. Wouldn’t be the first time for the media. Case in point, what happened to Rod being our DC?

I’m starting to accept that Frazier might do a good job, but I am having a heck oc a time with the OC thing. Maybe if he had true NFL experience I would be more on board, but this reeks of imitation, hoping to do what Chip Kelly is doing.

And that worries me. Since Gruden was fired, our coaches have tried to be the next packers, giants, steelers, etc.

Gruden never imitated anyone. Neither did Dungy. We need our own identity on offense, just as we will soon have on defense.

To much of a chance for Gruden to fail as a coach should decide to do it again. Not to mention the hours and stress involved with coaching. Sitting in a booth for 3 hours a week making the same money would be hard to give up! Same goes for Cowher. They let their legends live with hopes and dreams of fans whos team need a coach.

If it’s true that The Amish Boys went hat in hand back to Gruden….that’s pretty lame on there part IMO. Things ended so awkwardly that it just shows how haphazard things have become. Fired with 3 years left on his deal…replaced by a couple of stumblebums and then ask him back four years later? Am I the only one that thinks that’s strange? Lovie D. Lite will just have to do….

Gruden will never coach again! His agent has floats his name out every time a coaching position is available. They all pay considerably less than his current talking head position on Monday night.
Gruden is an attention whore and loves to hear people clamoring for his return. The d-bag brought a championship to Tampa then subsequently dismantled a franchise trying to prove he could win with his own team. His ego outweighs common sense.

It’s hard to believe that the Glazers even contacted Gruden, knowing they paid him for the following 2 years after they fired him. It’s possible, but that would be shocking to me as i’m sure to Gruden, who, i imagine, would love to tell them where to go. For the Glazers to admit their mistake to Gruden doesn’t really make sense. Cowher doesn’t seem to be ready to coach again either. Glad they got Lovie, Tedford & Frazier. Since these guys all got fired from their last jobs, I hope they’re all ready to turn the Bucs into the best team the franchise has ever had.

Why would Gruden sign up for a grind of 16 hour work days with the possibility of getting fired for any performance dropoff hanging over his head when he could sleep into 10am every day and cash a giant check to spew platitudes on tv a couple times per week? I sure wouldn’t.

Pathetic. Just when I suspected the Glazers might have a clue, this is revealed. Cowher was a good coach, but 5 years in a cushy TV job is a long way from the grind of being an NFL head coach. That the Glazers even made inquiries is disturbing. They also obviously didn’t learn anything from the Gruden experience the first time around. That dude destroyed the talent level in the organization and it’s taken years to build it back. I’m glad we got Lovie, but now my opinion of the Glazers is even lower than it was before.

Of course, this report could be all BS… or it could be that they contacted Cowher and Gruden for input/suggestions on the available coaches, because the Glazer boys don’t know a damn thing about football.

Rob Says:
January 5th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Chuckie is the New MADDEN he will never coach again!
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Nailed it!

Chucky has no stress, gets to live in Tampa and doesn’t have to worry about wins costing him his job. If and win, if ever EsPn fires Chucky then he may coach again. NFL HC works 24/7 and Chucky probably works about 3 or 4 days a week, doing what he loves and screwing around, cracking jokes.

PRBucFan Says:
January 5th, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Gruden will remain the next John Madden, he is the best commentator out there and they would pay more than any team would offer him every time just to keep him.
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Great Comment, totally agree with that!

In the NFC, other than the Saints staying alive, the other teams left all ball on the defensive side. Look at the Niners today. Watch the Seahawks frustrate the Saints next week. Ravens and Giants last 2 Super Bowl winners. Just like in 2003 when that Super Buc defense throttled the Raiders, we are seeing the dominating defenses beating up on the league’s best offenses.

The return of Lovie Smith gives Buc fans hope for a playoff run down the road.

Gruden’s style in the current NFL probably wouldn’t work. His judgement was flawed, c’mon man, Bruce Gradkowski? Using Mike Alstott as a pure fullback? He won that SuperBowl with most of Dungy’s guys. I think his best moves were adding McCardell and Jurvicious to the offense. Other than that his offenses sucked.

they probably had a discreet meeting before that dolphins MNF game when the bucs were still 0-8. they got alot of input on their roster from potential coaches before the eventual schiano hire, why wouldn’t you ask gruden his take on the bucs after a week of watching film and meeting with players and staff inside One Buc preparing to call the game?